Palm Oil

Information @ a Glance

Palm oil is a form of edible vegetable
oil obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree. The palm fruit is the
source of both palm oil and palm kernel oil.

Palm oil (from the African Oil Palm,
Elais Guineensis) was long recognized in West African countries, and among
West African peoples it is in widespread use as a cooking oil. European
merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use
in Europe, but as the oil was bulky and cheap, and due to the much higher
profits available from slave-trading, palm oil remained rare outside West
Africa.

Palm oil became a highly sought-after
commodity by British traders, the oil being used as industrial lubricant for
the machines of Britain's ongoing Industrial Revolution, as well as forming
the basis for different brands of soap such as Palmolive.

The palm oil and palm kernel oil are
composed of fatty acids, esterified with glycerol just like any ordinary
fat. Both are high in saturated fatty acids, about 50% and 80%,
respectively. The oil palm gives its name to the 16 carbon saturated fatty
acid palmitic acid found in palm oil.

Palm oil consists mainly of glycerides
made up of a range of fatty acids. Triglycerides constitute the major
component, with small proportions of diglycerides and monoglycerides. Palm
oil also contains other minor constituents, such as free fatty acids and
non-glyceride components. This composition determines the oil's chemical and
physical characteristics.

The oil winning process, involves the
reception of fresh fruit bunches from the plantations, sterilizing and
threshing of the bunches to free the palm fruit, mashing the fruit and
pressing out the crude palm oil. The crude oil is further treated to purify
and dry it for storage and export.

The process to extract oil from fresh
fruits needs large quantities of water and large amounts of wastewater are
released. Crude palm oil mills require about one ton of water to process one
ton of FFB, therefore they tend to be located close to a watercourse.

Palm oil mills also produce significant
quantities of by-products/solid waste, such as empty fruit bunch, fibres,
shell, decanter cake and ash from the boiler. Only 23% of raw materials are
products, the rests are waste/ by-products. Most of the by-products can be
reused in the
production process or in other industries.

Demand for palm oil is rising and is
expected to climb further, particularly for use in biodiesel . Biodiesel is
promoted as a form of renewable energy that greatly reduces net emissions of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and therefore its use is being touted as
a way to decrease the impact of the greenhouse effect and also the
possibility of peak oil.

India is one of the largest importer of
edible oil. There has been consistent increase in the oil consumption.
Imports of edible oils have grown over the years. Being a price sensitive
market, we import cheap edible oil. As such, Palm oil import accounts for
half the India’s edible imports. Apart from India, other countries such as
China, US, European countries have been experiencing increase in imports for
industrial purposes.

The second largest edible oil in the
world Annual production is 12 million tonnes Nutritious oil rich in
Pro-Vitamin A and Vitamin E Source of edible and many industrial products c
Popular cooking medium in India.

The trend of strong growth in palm oil
consumption continues in 2006/07, as food use and industrial use are
forecast to increase 4.5 percent (1.2 MMT) and 8.9 percent (710,000 MT),
respectively. The larger food consumption forecast is driven primarily by
increased palm oil demand in China and India.

In the oil year 2008-09, India’s per
capita consumption rose by an amazing 1.4 kilos driven by low prices and
total imports rose by 2.35 million tonnes.

In the end it turned out to be a win-win
situation for the producers of vegetable oil in Malaysia, Indonesia,
Ukraine, Russia, Brazil and Argentina, for the Indian government and the
Indian consumer.